Laguna Seca: Series Thursday notebook

PENSKE NOW A LEGEND OF LAGUNA SECA
Penske Racing owner Roger Penske will be honored this weekend as the
seventh Legend of Laguna Seca. The pre-race ceremony will kick off the
Monterey Sports Car Championships presented by ...

PENSKE NOW A LEGEND OF LAGUNA SECA

Penske Racing owner Roger Penske will be honored this weekend as the
seventh Legend of Laguna Seca. The pre-race ceremony will kick off the
Monterey Sports Car Championships presented by Patron, the final race of
the American Le Mans Series season.

"Roger is a true racer in every aspect of his life," said Gill Campbell,
CEO/general manager of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "He exemplifies what a
racing legend is and has contributed massively to the sport not just as a
driver but as a team owner in multiple series."

Penske won at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 1962 in the Zerex Special, a car
modified from a Cooper F1 car. "The Captain" also won for Jim Hall's
Chaparral team at the circuit in 1964.

The next season saw the launch of Penske Racing. Forty years later, Penske
entered the American Le Mans Series with Porsche and its RS Spyder in LMP2
at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Since the victorious debut in 2005, Penske
has won three consecutive team championships along with 24 wins.

WELCOME BACK PIERRE: JMB Racing's Pierre Kaffer is back at the scene of his
most recent American Le Mans Series victory. In 2004, he and Johnny Herbert
drove an Audi R8 to an overall win into the darkness at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca.

Kaffer drove JMB's Ferrari F430 GT with Ben Aucott and Stephane Daoudi to a
fifth-place class finish at Petit Le Mans. He also finished second in GT2
with Dirk Werner in Farnbacher Loles Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at
Mosport.

ECO'S DEBUT: Eco Racing is the newest entry into the American Le Mans
Series with its diesel-powered Radical SR10-AER. The British team has
overcome a number of obstacles to get on the track for the first time. The
Radical experienced some teething problems in its first on-track experience
in North America with some engine issues.

Team owner Ian Dawson had planned to campaign the car on biodiesel, but the
Radical will be powered by the same Shell diesel fuel that Audi uses in its
pair of Audi R10 TDIs.

WE ARE THE WORLD: Gil de Ferran has saluted his team with a seven-flag
display at the De Ferran Motorsports paddock. The flags of Australia,
Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are
flying below the team banner.

De Ferran is French by birth but his parents were from Brazil, where he
spent his formative years. The owner/driver is back at Mazda Raceway Laguna
Seca for the first time since a third-place finish 2001's CART race. His
1995 victory was his first in the U.S.

"Every time I return to Laguna Seca, it is always a very emotional
experience," de Ferran said. "It's the scene of my first victory in North
America and arguably one of the events that helped establish me as a
professional driver at the highest level back in 1995. Hopefully we will
make this weekend just as memorable."

HELLO AGAIN, HELIO: Helio Castroneves could hardly believe it. Has it
really been seven years since his last race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca? A
quick look at the record books says that's correct. So it was a giddy
Castroneves that was patrolling the paddock Thursday.

Castroneves will team with Ryan Briscoe in Penske Motorsports' Porsche RS
Spyder, the same car the duo drove to a class victory two weeks ago at Road
Atlanta's Petit Le Mans. A two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Castroneves
has tasted success in Monterey on multiple occasions.

He debuted in 1996 with a third-place effort in Indy Lights and followed
that with a runner-up finish the following year. He jumped up to CART the
following year and won at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2000 after claiming
pole position.

"It's been so many years since I've raced here, plus there's throwing a new
car into the mix," Castroneves said. "That really adds to the challenge.
Fortunately we got in some good testing time a few weeks ago at Road
Atlanta so I've gotten used to the RS Spyder again."

The final round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series is the Monterey Sports
Car Championships presented by Patron from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The
four-hour race into darkness is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m. PT on
Saturday, October 18. NBC Sports will air the race from 2 to 4 p.m. ET on
Sunday, October 19. XM Satellite Radio's Channel 144 will air the race from
4 to 8 p.m. ET on the same day. Live video of qualifying will be available
on americanlemans.com starting at 3 p.m. PT on Friday, October 17. American
Le Mans Radio will have live coverage on americanlemans.com, which also
will feature Live Timing & Scoring.